US gets vegan burger that looks and tastes like rare meat

A US company has developed a vegan burger with a patty that looks and tastes just like a meat burger that has been cooked rare.

‘The Impossible Burger’ was created by Impossible Foods, a company funded by Bill Gates and established to make foods which have lower environmental impacts.

The burger includes a molecule called heme which Impossible Foods says is its magic ingredient to making sure the burger tastes just like meat.

“While heme is exceptionally abundant in meat, it is a basic molecular building block of life on earth, including plants,” Impossible Foods said.

“Foods uses a plant-based heme protein to give the Impossible Burger its irresistibly meaty taste,” the company stated.

The burger will be available with lettuce, tomato and other regular burger accompaniments. It is now available in limited numbers at a Manhattan restaurant, Momofuku.

“I was genuinely blown away when I tasted the burger,” said chef and founder of Momofuku, David Chang.

Burger ingredients

Besides heme the rest of the patty consists of water, wheat protein, coconut oil, potato protein, natural flavours and micronutrients. Impossible Foods says it also has no cholesterol, hormones or antibiotics.

It is expected that the burger will eventually be available at other dining outlets and supermarkets within the US before being exported to other countries.